Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution

By John Ferling

Book Overview

Setting the World Ablaze is the story of the three men who, perhaps more than any others, helped bring the United States into being: George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Braiding three strands into one rich narrative, John Ferling brings these American icons down from their pedestals to show them as men of flesh and blood, and gives us a new understanding of the passion and uncertainty of the struggle to form a new nation.
A leading historian of the Revolutionary era, Ferling draws on an unsurpassed command of the primary sources and a talent for swiftly moving narrative to give us intimate views of each of these men. More than any scholar before him, Ferling shows us both the overarching historical picture of the era and a gripping sense of how these men encountered the challenges that faced them. At close quarters, we see Washington, containing a profound anger at British injustice within an austere demeanor; Adams, far from home, struggling with severe illness and French duplicity in his crucial negotiations in Paris; and Jefferson, distracted and indecisive, confronting uncertainties about his future in politics. John Adams, in particular, emerges from the narrative as the most underappreciated hero of the Revolution, while Jefferson is revealed as the most overrated of the Founders, although the most eloquent.
Setting the World Ablaze shows in dramatic detail how these conservative men--successful members of the colonial elite--were transformed into radical revolutionaries, and in doing so, it illuminates not just the special genius of these three leaders, but the remarkable transformation of His Majesty's colonies into the United States.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195134095
• ISBN13: 9780195134094
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 428 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Well-written and Engaging American History

Fascinating and immediate, "Setting the World Ablaze" follows America's first three presidents from their childhood days through their restless early adulthoods and ultimately to their placement at the fore of the new country. I've read a few books revolving around the Revolutionary war, and found this one similar in style (if more focused in scope) to A.J. Langguth's great overview, "Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution." Any fan of one book should read the other. Any student or casual reader new to Revolutionary-era history, and who is looking for a digestible and captivating narrative approach, should give this one a try--you'll come away feeling that you understand these historical giants as ambitious but ultimately very human men.

Incredible History

I still am amazed at American Revolutionary History. It is inspiring and humbling when looked at honestly. Ferling's book takes an honest look at the figures of Washington, Adams and Jefferson, as well as the social contexts each was existing and developing in during the Revolutionary period. He does not make excuses for their weaknesses, or exagerations for their strengths. This book is wonderful history.

Incendiaries of Freedom

So many books have already been published about the American Revolution as well as about Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Ferling brilliantly analyzes all three towering figures within a specific historical context, to be sure, but also in terms of each other. He creates and then explores a matrix of juxtapositions between and among them, comparing and contrasting all three in relation to each other but also in relation to the historical context on which each had such a profound impact. What Ferling has created is both a history book of panoramic scope and a trilogy of interrelated (and to some extent interdependent) biographies. It is so well-written that I often thought I was reading a novel.Since childhood, I have viewed certain books as "magic carpets." I include Ferling's book among them. It transported me back more than 200 years and deposited me amidst the brave and brilliant men who were about to set the world "ablaze" with their incendiary passion for an independence soon to be declared and eventually to be achieved. Ferling guides his reader through this highly combustible process. Of special interest to me is Ferling's presentation of Adams (characterized as the "Bulwark" of the American Revolution), a founding father not always mentioned in the same breath with Washington and Jefferson. With all due respect to Jefferson's accomplishments, Ferling concludes the final chapter with this observation: "To the end, he was incapable of accepting the reality of his culpability in the perpetuation and expansion of African slavery and the danger it now posed to the achievements of the American Revolution." And then in the Epilogue, Ferling asserts that the Revolutionary generation "was indeed fortunate to have had Washington and Adams as its greatest stewards and shepherds." If you have a keen interest in the War for Independence and, especially, in those who led the new nation through and beyond that war, there is this magic carpet I know about....

Jeffersonians Beware!

An excellent biography of the three leading fugures of the American Revolution. Ferling makes a compelling case to restore the reputation of John Adams to its rightful place. Adams deserves to be remembered as more than a grumpy counter-figure to Jefferson's optimism. The author also strongly attacks Jefferson by calling into question the lack of leadership evidenced by Jefferson throughout the Revolutionary years. Committment was provided by Adams and Washington when things looked bleak. When Jefferson was tending his vines at Monticello, Washington led troops and Adams served around the world. If you are interested in the Early Republic, this is a must read! You may disagree with his conclusions but they are well argued and refreshing.

Excellent analysis of the Revolution's three large figures

Ferling concentrates on the event that launches three first presidents of the United States onto the world stage: the American Revolution. There has much been written about these three men (Edmund S. Morgan has even written a book that concentrates on these three just as Ferling has), but what sets this work apart is Ferling's piercing analysis. Rather than a pedantic recollection of the actions of these men, we are treated to his interpretation of their impact on the Revolution.I'm not going to say that I agree with Ferling on all points, but I appreciate his erudite opinions and clear writing, and believe he has made another contribution to the already sizable quantity of literature on the American Revolition.